My First Week

So my first week of Japan has finally ended though with the amount of stuff they cram into orientation it feels like weeks. I think it is part of a cunning plan on the organisers to keep us from getting home sick. Not that you can when you are blinded by the neon lights of Shinjuku. But yes orientation was busy and I spent about 3 days just meeting new people and explaining that I was South African and NOT British.

The flights were long. Joberg to Hong Kong was tiring but the plane itself was awesome. Loads of TV and movies and you could chose what you wanted to watch when you wanted to watch it. At one point there was a unison viewing of America’s Next Top Model followed by heated debate between my fellow SA JETs.

There is a definite obsession with health and swine flu in the East. At Hong Kong airport they had even closed the drinking fountains to prevent the spread of H1N1. Anyone who is remotely sick wears a mask as a courtesy to others. Something I don’t think would ever work in South Africa as people already have a problem branding themselves as ‘sick’.

The trip from Narita Airport to Tokyo wasn’t too thrilling as Tokyo like Germany has walled off its highways to stop the noise. I did however drive past Tokyo Disneyland – which was kinda hard to miss. They are obsessed with Disney here, Winnie the Poo and Stitch are found everywhere. And I also got to see the Tokyo Tower, but unfortunately the trip to the top will have to wait until my next visit.

Although I had vowed to get some sleep on Sunday the lure of Shinjuku was too great and we went to explore. It took me 15 minutes to find an electronic store and they do not lie when they tell you that it is all about the selection. After finally hunting down an adapter we went in search of food and after much debate and un-unanimous agreement not to end up at McDonalds we found a small izakaya ｨｻﾞｶｬ (sounds so Xhosa) and so began the first attempt at ‘real’ Japanese food. Unfortunately the place we had picked required that you chose and pay for your food at a vending machine with thumbnail images of the food. So you could have been ordering anything. And what I did order could have been. It did not look the slightest bit appetising but at least it didn’t have any tentacles. It turned out to be delicious and consisted of stir-fried (finally shaved) beef with rice and a side order of miso soup – which I still have not really got the hang of yet.

What followed next was 2 days of lectures and discussions on teaching and being a JET and all the things that go with living in Japan. This includes installing a strong sense of fear with regards to the implications of drinking and driving. The alcohol limit here is ZERO - they say you can’t even sniff alcohol and drive – and people that let others drink and drive are also held responsible for their actions. Should a JET get caught drinking and driving you will be fired, deported, have to pay large sums of money and there is a good chance that your supervisor will get fired too. So no pressure or anything (such a law would never work in SA – could you imagine the strikes for peoples rights).

In between all of this was one intense night of karaoke where all I can say is that the South African’s can hold there heads high. Also one’s ability to speak Japanese is greatly improved with consumption of bi-ru ﾋﾞｰﾙ (not to be confused with biru ﾋﾞﾙ) and osake ｫｻｹ.

We also spent an evening at the South African Embassy and were given, yet more, resources for teaching. This followed with a trip on the Tokyo underground where we got lost and one of members geriatrically harassed some of the locals. The subway was terrifying. It was 9pm which is their rush hour as most people only leave work at this hour. Joss however, was still able to make friends on the subway.

After the rush that was Tokyo it was nice to get to Oita. It is a very green area and it gives me the impression of being unkempt. All I want to do is clean it up. It is rather reminiscent of the garden that was our plot in my old Hudson Ave House. It is very tropical. Complete with bugs. In fact I did not expect that coming from the third world to the first that I would be confronted with such untamed wildlife. There are spiders everywhere, and allowed to co-habit quite peacefully with the rest of us. So far my house is only the property of small web building, squishables. But in my brief visit across town to the other JETs homes I met with 2 large rain spider like ones. So if I don’t make it through this year it will be bug related. At least they are only around in summer, so only another month or two to go. And hopefully whatever is living in my roof eats them.

My house is huge. The living area is the size of my entire bachelor flat. I have 3 rooms (6 tatami mats big), bathroom, toilet and kitchen. It will take a while but I am slowly making it my own. At least there is space for visitors. I have also inherited some weird stuff – including 6 boxes of easy mac that expired in 2007.

My supervisor has been wonderful and endured all the pain of my passport and money exchange attempts. She was really apologetic about the 2 hours spent waiting at the bank to change money (this was after we were told they don’t accept travellers cheques) and kept saying how patient I am - I didn’t say that it was due to all my practice with South African banks – so I am guessing that this is not common to Japan. Unfortuanly she is going to the UK for 2 weeks so I will be floundering on my own for a bit. But the other English teachers at the school are also very helpful so it won’t be too bad I am sure.

The students that I have met are too sweet. I kept getting called kawaii ｶﾜｨｨ, which will take some getting used to. That’s not to say I don’t like it! They are all shy but very friendly and I am constantly being waved too and giggled at. I am really looking forward to teaching them. I met one boy today called Wakato (I think) who is the Japanese equivalent of Steve Holt! I have developed a new tactic that when I hear giggling or am being talked about that I go up and talk to the students because they tend to be too shy to speak to me directly. Unfortunately none of my students will be at the summer camp that I am a part of this week. Last year some students claimed to have seen a ghost and this has lead to reduced numbers. The teachers also had to stay up all night calming the students down. Ghosts seem to be a sensitive issue here.

Anywho that is about if for now. You can find links to my photos on facebook below.

JHB to Hong Kong
Tokyo
Oita - Week 1